Though seasoned standard-bearer Sandy Sasso bears a noticeable physical resemblance to Home Improvement matriarch Patricia Richardson, there’s nothing motherly about the vocalist’s bluesy, salt-rimmed gusto. Having traveled with several of the most blistering big bands in the business (Dorsey, Goodman and Riddle outfits, to name but three) the classically trained Sasso has what it takes to hold her own against a wall of sound.
Paying homage to the spectrum of talented guys who’ve helped shape her “musical journey” (and ably expressing her feelings with the cheeky, self-penned title track), Sasso kicks vocal ass. Juggling a tricky playlist that bounces from the captious sophistication of Rodgers and Hart’s “Ev’rything I’ve Got” and bossa-fueled bite of Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” to the easy-flowing hopefulness of Michael Franks’ “Antonio’s Song” and the dusky wisdom of Neil Young’s “Tin Man,” she makes producer Jack Kreisberg, pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs, bassist Harry Allen, drummer Joe Ascione, vocal pal Grady Tate (with whom she shapes a stunning “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea”) and, indeed, all her men justly proud.
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